I recently sat down with Todd Bauer, playwright of "Downsizing Camus."

The Apothetae presented "Downsizing Camus" at The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on Saturday, July 25th, 2015 as part of Cripfest to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Previous to this event, "Downsizing Camus" had been developed at Victory Gardens in Chicago, Page To Stage at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and The Lark Play Development Center in New York City.

Amongst the bill of solo performers at the Cripfest, The Apothetae was the only group to present a fully-staged production that featured an integrated ensemble of disabled and non-disabled actors in a work by a living, disabled playwright.

I asked Todd about his process and his work with The Apothetae.-Gregg Mozgala, Artistic Director1. You are a blind playwright. One of the things that initially drew me to CAMUS was the fact that it contained no disabled characters and did not overtly deal with Disability.﻿﻿﻿ It is however packed with ideas.﻿﻿﻿ I have heard you say that the universal, existential themes of Alienation and Isolation that run through the play are how your experience as a blind playwright entered into the work. Can you talk a little more about that, as it relates specifically to, CAMUS, and your other work?

Sure. CAMUS, as you said, deals with the ideas of Existentialism, Modernism, and Post-Modernism. And I suppose I am drawn to those ideas because I am blind. Although I am fortunate to have a very loving relationship with my wife, family and incredible friends; being blind is isolating. I have not made eye contact with anyone in over twenty years, and can’t see the details of another person’s face unless I am literally nose-to-nose with them. So what I like about the ideas in the play as they relate to the isolating aspect of Disability, is that they make a case that none of us can transcend that. In other words: on a certain level we are all alone, and thus, equal.

2. As you know, The Apothetae's mission is to produce work that "explores and illuminates the Disabled Experience." We added several elements to the recent production at BAM that weren't in the original script (DJ character, Foley effects, audio description, the purgatorial/Sisyphisian elements, etc). Can you talk about what that was like for you as a writer, and how collaborating with The Apothetae to "blow out" your play in terms of theatricalizing visual impairment enhanced, changed, or detracted from the piece?

I loved this experience! In fact, as this is a very early play of mine, I had kind of moved on from it, and…let’s just say, would not have sought it out myself. But what The Apothetae did was amazing! They truly did blow it out and make it much more interesting and exciting. And to me, what I love about theater, is the collaborative effect. That Thursday night rehearsal where we collectively came up with the new ending by bouncing ideas off each other was just exhilarating! I’ve had novelist friends of mine come to my plays and they get nervous about the thought of “turning it over” to other people, whereas I get excited about it, precisely because of what happened with this play: it got a lot better by having talented, smart, dedicated people throw themselves into it.Also, I acknowledge, that as a visually impaired artist, I bring certain unique gifts, but I am also hindered in certain ways. The visual elements added to the play—as well as the editing down which only outside eyes can do—enhanced the play in ways that I could never have gotten to on my own.Finally, this was the first time I have ever worked with a theater artist who shares my same disability {Pamela Sabaugh, who played Meg, and Todd both have forms of macular degeneration} and I cannot begin to express what a profoundly significant experience that was. To quote a line from another play of mine “Belief is a statement; Truth, an experience.” A play written by a blind playwright, performed by a blind actress (as well as actors with other disabilities) holds great, great power for the blind community. It’s one thing for people to keep telling you, you can do it, and quite another to actually see people like you doing it.

3. This is your second production this year? Can you tell us a little bit about audiences response to your work-a) generally as a writer and b) as a writer who identifies as "Disabled" and writes on these themes?

The response to both this play and THE BIRD FEEDER DOESN’T KNOW which was produced at Raven Theatre in Chicago earlier this year have both been very positive—for the most part! I’d say the resistance, as well as the enthusiasm, stems from the fact that these stories—stories of disability—are not getting told enough. They scare some people—especially when it is made evident to them that these are universal stories; whereas others are thrilled as they have been starved to have their story told.Often after BIRD FEEDER, which is much more overtly about disability, I would have people come up to me and say “That is my family” or mention how they know someone who has gone through a similar thing. I witnessed a couple of people who could not get out of their seats for a period of time after the show ended they were so moved.Disability, both directly and indirectly is an experience we all share. It is also an experience which is not articulated enough, and certainly not by disabled writers, or performed by disabled actors. So in other words, we have a topic with a very large, very hungry audience, that is not getting fed often enough, so thy gorge on it whenever they get the chance!

"Representation in the fictional world signifies social existence; absence means symbolic annihilation."-George GerbnerI was recently in a one-act entitled, John, Who's Here From Cambridgeby Martyna Majok as part of Ensemble Studio Theatre's 35th Marathon of One-Act Plays. John is a man with cerebral palsy, which I was born with, but mine is less severe than the character I was playing. I am grateful that the playwright and the producers gave me the opportunity to act this part. Could a competent, skilled, non-disabled actor play this role? Yes.However, I feel that my lived-in experience of cerebral palsy makes me uniquely suited for the role. I know what the tension in the body feels like, I know the social and emotional impact of someone who has lived with a life-long disability (specifically CP) and I have friends and people close to me who I am modeling the character of John after.Does all this mean I can just sit down and do the role? Not necessarily. I may know more about how to approach the role from day one than an able-bodied actor would, I know how to articulate my experience in relation to the characters to my ensemble members and director during the rehearsal process, but in order to do the role well, to do my job well, I still have to adopt an intense physical and vocal posture very different from my own. I have to be transformative as an actor. I have act my ass off.

At the risk of sounding reductive, this is what acting is- playing someone who is different from yourself. I must have done a good job, because after the show most people thought I wasn't actually disabled.

From the start of previews and throughout the course of the run of the show, here's a selection of comments I either heard or read expressed to me or about me:"I'm so glad you can actually walk.""I was actually worried about you.""I haven't seen you in a while and I wasn't sure if you had regressed.""Didn't I see you in...*name of another show featuring actors with various physical disabilities* recently?"And my new-current-all-time-personal-favorite:One on-line review stated- "Mozgala is excellent, but I have to wonder what would happen if they actually cast a disabled actor in this role."The reviewer changed the text immediately upon notification from the producers, but offered no apology for the insult or the shoddy research.

This variety of responses is fascinating to me as a disabled person and performer. Granted, the character of John is a wheelchair user, I am not, and my disability isn't necessarily apparent until I am mobile. This doesn't change the fact that the overall presumption from the general audience was that I was a non-disabled actor playing disabled. The various responses, to me, point to an overwhelming sense of relief felt by an audience which inferred I was "not disabled." Phew.

The last two Broadway seasons have been chock-a-block with shows featuring disabled characters. Richard III (Mark Rylance/TONY nomination), The Glass Menagerie (Celia Keenan-Bolger/TONY nomination), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Daniel Radcliffe/TONY nomination), The Elephant Man (Bradley Cooper/TONY nomination), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, (Alexander Sharp/TONY winner--TONY winner Best Play) and nominally, An American In Paris; which features a disabled veteran with a "bad leg." But boy can he dance!

Should disabled actors be cast in disabled roles? Yes. The reasons the practice of "cripface" or "disability drag," as I have heard it referred to, persists are numerous and myriad. It's a serious issue that needs serious attention and serious action. I feel responsibility for this action lies both within and without the Disability community. I also feel that if WE (The Disabled community and its allies) want this to change and be seen in Hollywood and on Broadway stages, WE'VE got a lot of work to do before we get there.

In all the hoi-polloi around this issue, I rarely hear mention of the need for action that relates to the creation of new work that supports the casting of disabled actors and the development of disabled talent through professional training programs and companies that have an exploration of Disability core to their mission statements.

Casting is only one small piece of a much larger issue. To say that decision makers in the industry should cast disabled actors in disabled roles is all well and good, but it doesn't address the simple fact that today, in 2015, the twenty-fifth anniversary year of the Americans With Disabilities Act, American audiences are not ready to deal with Disability in a real way. Disability is not being presented consistently in a real, satisfying way. As a result, disabled people and disabled bodies are not a visible, viable part of our cultural landscape.

In my own small way, I am dedicated to changing this. As I write this the words of poet and activist, Eli Clare come to mind- if my job as an artist is to hold the mirror up to nature, I have to first remember that I come from a long line of people who hate being looked at, who have habitually and chronically hated mirrors and cameras, who hate looking at our own bodies. I also come from people who are learning to relish our bodies, who are stretching into a comfortable pride and spending long, joyful moments in front of mirrors. We are people learning how to make are bodies home. Rest easy, America. In my experience, it seems nobody really knows anything about Disability. But don't worry, together, I'm hoping we can figure some things out.

This "Hot Cripple" Series is an experiment; an effort to bring attention to the fact that Disability isn't necessarily synonymous with Ugly- as in Ugly Laws, which proliferated this country for over a century.

This month we feature paralympian, spokesperson and television personality Ade Adepitan

Adepitan was born in Maryland, Lagos, Nigeria on 27 March 1973. At the age of 6 months, Adepitan contracted polio which resulted in the loss of function of his left leg, and ultimately prevented him from walking. At the age of three, Adepitan and his mother emigrated to Newham in London, United Kingdom to join his father. From an early age, he had aspirations of becoming an international sportsman.

Adeptitan is an accomplished wheelchair basketball player, and as a member of the Great Britain team, won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens and the gold medal at the 2005 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Adepitan has featured on many television programs and series as an actor, presenter or guest, particularly for the BBC. He often uses television as a platform to campaign against racism and disability discrimination. Adepitan was appointed as one of the main presenters on Channel 4 of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. In 2013, he presented a Channel 4 Dispatches program, 'Britain on Benefits', and also presented a documentary for Channel 4's 'Unreported World' about Cuban basketball players, 'Cuba, Basketball and Betrayal'. In 2014, he became one of the presenters of the new BBC travel series The Travel Show. He also anchored the Winter Paralympic Games for Channel 4 and Invictus Games for the BBC.